WASHINGTON,
June 9: The
US does not think Kashmir issue is on the table
for resumption of a composite Indo-Pak dialogue
saying the 'real question' right now is how
Pakistan progressed in ending cross-border
terrorism and trial of Mumbai attack suspects.

The Obama
Administration however acknowledged that Kashmir
is a "very important issue" between
India and Pakistan and hoped the two neighbouring
countries would make progress on resolving this
issue. It also said there is "no
change" in its Kashmir policy.

"I don't
think Kashmir is really the question that's on
the table now," said the Assistant Secretary
of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake
in an interview to BBC.

"The real
question right now is to first, I think, get some
progress on the trial of the Mumbai suspects,
those who are already in custody in Pakistan and
also from the Indian perspective to see progress
by Pakistan on stopping actions by
Lashkar-e-Toiba and other Punjab-based terrorist
groups against India," Blake said.

Giving the
American perspective on Indo-US talks, Blake said
that the above mentioned issues are the real
"redlines" for re-establishing the
composite dialogue between India and Pakistan.

State Department
spokesman P J Crowley told reporters at his daily
news briefing that "We recognise that
(Kashmir) is a very, very important issue between
India and Pakistan."

He was responding
to a question on the visit of the Prime Minister
Dr Manmohan Singh to Jammu and Kashmir and his
offer of talks with the separatist if they
abandon violence and abide by the Indian
Constitution.

"As the
dialogue between India and Pakistan, continues to
expand, including at the leader level, that we
would hope that India and Pakistan can make
progress in understanding this issue and moving
forward, just as they did a few years ago,"
Crowley said.

Appearing at a
State Department Blog Forum, Blake said there is
no change in America's policy on Kashmir.

"No, there's
no change right now," Blake said in response
to a question. I think at this point the top
priority for India and Pakistan is, first, to get
their own bilateral dialogue going in a more
systematic way," he said.

As I said, there
is very important meetings that will be taking
place in Islamabad over the next two months and
the Indians have in Prime Minister Dr Singh
somebody who I think is personally and deeply
committed to achieving peace with Pakistan, Blake
said.

"But he
(Prime Minister) needs to see progress on these
two important issues that I spoke of; that is,
progress to stop some of the cross-border
infiltration that's taking place into India, but
also progress on the trial of the Mumbai
suspects," said the State Department
official.

If we can see
that, I think that there will be a flourishing of
the dialogue that could take place but those are
very important things that need to take place, he
said.

Blake noted that
from 2004 to 2007, the two countries did make
quite a lot of progress on Kashmir, where they
had this bilateral back channel that took place
in which they had a chance for the first time to
sit down very quietly and explore the outlines of
an agreement.

"They didn't
quite reach the end of it, but I think they made
a great deal of progress.

And that, again,
could be picked up, I think, relatively quickly
if they can sort out some of these other issues
that I talked about," he said. (PTI)

NEW
DELHI, June 9: The DRDO and IAF have successfully
tested laser guided bombs (LGBs) designed and
developed indigenously for the air force, which
is planning to upgrade a large number of its
unguided bombs to the standards of the new
weapon. DRDO officials said here today that the
user trials of the LGBs were successfully carried
out at the Pokhran test ranges in Rajasthan
desert by the IAF this week.

"The flight
tests demonstrated the accuracy, reliability and
performance of the precision air launched
bombs," the officials said.

"IAF is
expected to upgrade a large number of unguided
bombs to this standard based on the excellent
results seen," they added.

Designed and
developed by Bangalore-based Aeronautical
Development Establishment (ADE), the tests of the
LGBs were conducted after extensive simulation
and design validation, they said.

The LGBs were also
put through ground experiments followed by a
series of flight evaluation.

"A number of
hi-tech components have also been developed by
Indian industries for this advanced weapon
package," they added. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June
9: Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee, a known
troubleshooter in the Government,
will head the Group of Ministers
(GoM) constituted to go into the
ticklish issue of inclusion of
caste in census.Other members of
the panel include Mamata
Banerjee, Farooq Abdullah, M
Veerappa Moily, S Jaipal Reddy,
Sharad Pawar and Kapil Sibal,
Government sources said.

The
GoM has to take a political
decision on whether to
include caste in the ongoing
census operation, an issue which
had seen differences in the
Government.

The
GoM will have to take an
expeditious decision as the
second part of census was
scheduled to begin in September,
they said.

Government
had last month decided to set up
the GoM on the controversial
issue after consensus eluded it
at two meetings of the Union
Cabinet.

Several
political parties, including
Samajwadi Party, RJD and JD(U),
have been pressing for inclusion
of caste in the census.

The
issue had figured prominently in
the just-concluded Budget Session
of Parliament when the Prime
Minister had assured the members
that Government would take their
views into account before
deciding on the matter.

Inclusion
of caste in the census was last
done in the country in 1931.
(PTI)

JAMMU, June 9: Registration
for holy cave shrine of Shri
Amarnath ji has crossed 50,000
during just four days with
on-line bookers exceeding the
number of manual registration
being done by 121 designated
branches of Jammu and Kashmir
Bank across the country.

Registration
for annual pilgrimage to Amarnath
shrine, beginning from July 1,
was started on June 5.

Today,
the registration has crossed
50,000 mark, official sources
said, adding the pilgrims were
preferring on-line registration.
Nearly 30,000 yatris have
registered themselves on-line as
against 20,000 through the bank
branches.

Shri
Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has
fixed a quota of 4.10 lakh yatris
for registration during 55 days
yatra, which will conclude on
August 24 on the occasion of
Shravan Purnima and Raksha
Bandhan.

However,
the possibility of number of
pilgrims being increase from 4.10
lakh is not ruled out keeping in
view the heavy rush for
registration, sources said.